Friday, August 22, 2014

Global Warming Pause 'Due to Atlantic Ocean Carrying Heat Deep Down'

The Atlantic ocean could be contributing to the 'pause' in global warming by drawing down heat by nearly a mile, according to a new study. 
The research from the University of Washington shows that heat from the surface is plunging deep in the north and south Atlantic, affecting the balance between incoming heat and heat radiated back into the atmosphere. The study is published in Science.
Recent measurements of ocean temperature made by thousands of buoys and observations of Earth's radiative energy by satellite instruments have shown that the Earth is warming up. In fact, Earth's heating rate increased between the 1985-1999 and 2000-2012 periods.
But this increased heating has not directly corresponded with surface warming - and apparently, the answer could be found deep in the Atlantic. 

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